By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson. 



333 



one of the Chroniclers, says " the croice and the rood." The cross 

 itself is often called the " Rode-beam " or " Rood-tree : " i.e., the 

 wooden shaft sustaining the image. When inside a church, the 

 rood was placed over the gallery or screen dividing the chancel from 

 the nave ; which then came to be called the " Rood-loft." When 

 outside a church it was generally carved in stone, placed in a niche, 

 against the wall, or over the porch; or on a separate shaft, either 

 in the church-yard, or at the entrance, or middle of a village. The 

 relative meanings of Chapel and Rood are well distinguished by the 

 Poet Spenser in the " Fairy Queen." 



" And nigh, thereto a little Chapel stood 

 Which being all with ivy overspread, 

 Deck't all the roofe, and shadowing the roode, 

 Seem'd like a grove fair branched over head." 



As the name of a place, or church, Rood sometimes occurs. At 

 Edinburgh, we have Holy Rood Chapel, (equivalent to the Santa 

 Croce of Florence, the Sainte- Croix, of France.) In old times, in 

 order to promote Christianity and civilization, the setting up of a 

 rood or crucifix by the way-side was a reminder to all passers-by. 

 Of this there are hundreds of examples abroad. The complete group 

 is there called "a Calvary." The Department of Finisterre, in 

 Britanny, is very rich in them, and they sometimes form very large 

 and beautiful specimens of sacred architecture. 



Possibly the village called Rowde, near Devizes, and that of Road, 

 near Beckington, may have some similar origin for their names, but 

 I do not say that it was so. 



I believe that Rood Ashton was- never any part of the demesne 

 lands of Romsey Abbey, but was simply held under it by various 

 owners, paying the Abbess a chief rent and doing suit of court, 



The first owner whose name has been met with was John Bisset, 

 who died, A.D. 130(5 (35 Edw. I.). His ancestor, Manasseh Bisset, 

 had in A.D. 1151 founded the Nunnery of Maiden Bradley: so that 

 it is possible that this family may have been possessors of Rood 

 Ashton for a considerable time. In 1889 (18 Rich. II), John 

 Milbourne and John Blanchard appear (I. p. M.) as owners of two 

 virgates of land and a Home at Chapel Ashton. They were perhaps 



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